Knowing your customers often starts with analyzing relevant data about them. But where do you start? How can you strategically turn raw data into useful information that you can leverage to allow for a deeper connection with the individuals you are attempting to reach? While at the Business Growth Cafe, Jenny Dinnen of the MacKenzie Corporation shared that authentic connections between a company and a customer results from an ability for the brand to effectively observe and respond to the customer’s actions and engagements, as determined through data analysis.
Empowering companies to leverage the data they need to connect with their customers and find additional prospects starts with knowing who your customers are, and what matters to them. Knowing your customer’s job title is NOT knowing the customer. In order to build a lasting relationship the business must dig deeper into understanding what a customer/ prospect’s motivations are when it comes to making a decision.
Traditional means of obtaining data on our customers, from focus groups to paper surveys, are NOT the only ways to receive feedback. In the digital age, there are so many so many inexpensive ways to collect and leverage information, and additional ways to connect. Our customers are talking to us all the time, even when they are not interacting one-on-one, we just need to listen.
Through social listening techniques, we can know what our customers are talking about, what aspects of the business’s website they are spending the most time, etc. We listen to our customers by being aware of their activity. In analyzing this, we can more effectively connect with them in the way that they want to be connected with.
It is important to note that simply having access to internal data is not the finish line. Many companies fail when they do not leverage their data, and simply let it collect dust on the shelf. Rather than focusing on data collection, we need to focus on the analysis and utilization of that data or insights to drive action.
Key starting questions: How are the results going to be used? What problem are you attempting to solve? What does success look like? How are the results going to be used?
Once your intention is clear, you will also gain more clarity as to what to pinpoint as you sift through the data. “Nice to know” information is meaningless; in order to truly leverage your data, ensure that every question yields something actionable.
For more insight on this topic and much more, listen to my recent interview with Jenny Dinnen of the MacKenzie Corporation on my radio show, Business Growth Cafe, here:
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